Water Quality and Discharge of Streams in the Lehigh River Basin, Pennsylvania GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1879-H Prepared in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Forests and fFaters Water Quality and Discharge of Streams in the Lehigh River Basin, Pennsylvania By EDWARD F. McCARREN and WALTER B. KEIGHTON CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1879-H Prepared in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters 1 JNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1969 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WALTER J. HIGKEL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government P-inting Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 35 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract_ _______________________________________________________ Hi Introduction._ ____________________________________________________ 1 Purpose and scope_____________________________________________ 3 Acknowledgments. ____________________________________________ 3 General features of the Lehigh River basin___________________________ 3 Location _____________________________________________________ 3 Physiography _________________________________________________ 4 Geology._ ____________________________________________________ 5 Climate_ _____________________________________________________ 5 Population. ___________________________________________________ 6 Coal mining._____________________________________________________ 7 Reservoirs._______________________________________________________ 8 Water quality of streams___________________________________________ 12 Chemical quality of headwater streams draining the Appalachian Plateaus _ _________________________________________________ 12 Lehigh River at Stoddartsville______________________________ 13 Tobyhanna and Tunkhannock Creeks________________________ 13 Bear Creek_______________________________________________ 13 Lehigh River at White Haven and Lehigh Tannery..__________ 14 Dilldown Creek___________________________________________ 14 Chemical quality of streams draining the Valley and Ridge province. _ _ 14 Acid-bearing streams Sandy and Indian Runs and Pond, Quakake, Black, and Nesquehoning Creeks_________________ 14 Alkaline-type streams Mahoning, Pohopoco, Lizard, and Aquashicola Creeks______________________________________ Lehigh River at Walnutport_______________________________ 15 Other streams in the Valley and Ridge province Little Lehigh, 15 Monocacy, Coplay, Cedar, and Jordan Creeks______________ 16 Lehigh River at Catasauqua________________________________ 16 Chemical quality of streams draining the New England province_ _____ 17 Saucon Creek_____________________________________________ 17 Lehigh River at Bethlehem and Glendon.____________________ 19 Lehigh River at Easton___________________________________- 19 Summary _ ______________________________________________________ 21 References_ _____________________________________________________ 27 ILLUSTEATIONS Page FIGURE 1. Map showing physiographic provinces and location of water-quality samplingsites_________________________ 114 2. Map showing geology and stream quality__-___-___-__--_ 6 3-11. Graphs: 3. Water-temperature variations with depth, Francis E. Walter Reservoir, June 16 and 29, 1966 .-- 10 in IV CONTENTS FIGUKES 3-11. Graphs Continued 4. Dilution effects of water released from Francis E. Walter Reservoir, Lehigh River at Easton, June20-30, 1966____._._________._ Hll 5. Relation of dissolved solids and calcium and magne­ sium hardness to specific conductance, Lehigh River at Catasauqua, 1944-53______________ 18 6. Relation of dissolved solids, calcium, bicarbonate, and sulfate to specific conductance, Lehigh River at Bethlehem, 1959-66____ _ ____ _ 20 7. Cumulative frequency curve of specific conduct­ ance, Lehigh River at Glen don, 1956-58. ______ 22 8. Cumulative frequency curve of specific conduct­ ance, Lehigh River at Easton, October 1962 to September 1966________________ 22 9. Graph showing relationship between dissolved solids and specific conductance, Lehigh River at Easton, 1961-66-.._________________ 24 10. Cumulative frequency curve of water temperature, Lehigh River at Easton, October 1962 to September 1965________.____.____ 25 11. Graph showing daily maximum and minimum, and monthly averages of, water temperature, Lehigh River at Easton, October 1962 to September 1966__________________._ 26 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Water quality data, Lehigh River at Easton, June 1-30, 1966_________________-_-___---__._______. H12 2. Maximum and minimum values of physical and chemical properties, Lehigh River at Catasauqua, 1944-53-______ 17 3. Given values of physical and chemical properties that were equaled or exceeded for indicated percent of days, Lehigh River at Catasauqua, 1945-52_______________ 17 4. Daily specific conductance, Lehigh River rt Easton, October 1965 to September 1966-__._____________ 23 5. Continuous recording of water quality by instrument, Lehigh River at Easton, May 1966 to April 1967___ __ 24 6. Chemical analyses of streams in the Lehigh River basin, 7_____________-__-______________-________-_ 30 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES WATER QUALITY AND DISCHARGE OF STREAMS IN THE LEHIGH RIVER BASIN, PENNSYLVANIA By EDWARD F. MCCARREN and WALTER B. KEIGHTON ABSTRACT The Lehigh River, 100 miles long, is the second largest tributary to the Delaware River. It drains 1,364 square miles in four physiographic provinces. The Lehigh River basin includes mountainous and forested areas, broad agricultural valleys and areas of urban and industrial development. In the headwaters the v^ater is of good quality and has a low concentration of solutes. Downstream, some tributaries receive coal-mine drainage and become acidic; others drain areas underlain by limestone and acquire alkaline characteristics. The alkaline streams neutralize and dilute the acid mine water where they mix. The dissolved-oxygen content of river water, which is high in the upper reaches of the stream, is reduced in the lower reaches because of lower turbulence, higher temperature, and the respiration of organisms. The Lehigh is used for public supply, recreation, waterpower, irrigation, and mining and other industrial purposes. Because the river is shallow in its upper reaches, most of the water comes in contact with the atmosphere as it churns over rocks and around islets ard large boulders. Aeration of the water is rapid. When water that was low in diirsolved- oxygen concentration was released from the lower strata of the Francis E. Walter Reservoir in June 1966, it quickly became aerated in the Lehigh River, and for 40 miles downstream from the dam the water was nearly saturated with oxygen. Most of the river water requires only moderate treatment for industrial use and public distribution throughout the Lehigh River valley. At times, however, some segments of the main river and its tributaries transport industrial wastes and acid coal-mine drainage. Usually the relatively high concentrations of solutes in water and the ensuing damage caused to quality by such waste discharges are more extensive and prolonged during droughts and other periods of low streamflow. For many years the Lehigh River flow has been continuously measured and its waters chemically analyzed. Since May 1966 an instrument installed by the U.S. Geological Survey at Easton, Pa., has continuously recorded such water- quality parameters as specific conductance, temperature, and dissolved oxygen content. INTRODUCTION The chemical characteristics of perennial streams that drain the Lehigh River basin in eastern Pennsylvania are described in this report. From selected locations throughout the drainage basin, samples of surface water have been taken systematically since 1944 and analyzed for the minerals that most commonly dissolve in water. Samples from some places were taken intermittently, sometimes only during high or low streamflow. At several selected locations Hi H2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES samples were taken on consecutive days for durations of 1 year or more, and it was thus possible to observe those conditions that cause variations in water quality in terms of time and place. Water is an indispensable ingredient of life. In its liquid and mobile state it is nature's most common solvent. As precipitation falling through the atmosphere it absorbs gases and picks up salt, dust, bacteria, spores, and other particles. Water flowing over and into the earth acquires materials in solution or suspension and trans­ ports them from place to place. In the atmosphere water is relatively low in solute content, and when it reaches the earth as precipitation in some form, it normally dilutes the water flowing in surface streams or that which lies in reservoirs, lakes, and ponds. When there has been no precipitation, the water that maintains flow in streams issues from the ground. Ground water normally has more materials in solution than does surface water because it has been in contact with soluble rock longer. Consequently, additional solutes are introduced to streams by ground-water seepages, and during low flow streams reach their maximum concentration of dissolved solids. Under normal conditions the quality of streams in the basin represents a mixture of ground water and runoff. In most streams domination of one source over the other is obvious during high and low discharges.